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THE  CONVERSION  OF  ST.  PAUL. 


THE 


CONVERSION  OF  ST.  PAUL. 


THREE   DISCOURSES 


BY 

GEORGE  JAEVIS   GEER,  D.D. 

liECTOE   OF    ST.    TIMOTHY's   CHUKCH,    NEW   YORK. 


><^?*«ChK- 


iefa-g0rk: 
SAMUEL  K.   WELLS, 


389    BROADWAY. 

1871. 


GIFT 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congresa,  in  the  year  1871, 

BY  SAMUEL  Ti.   WTLLS, 
In  the  Ofllce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  "Washington. 


TO    ONE 

WHOSE    UNS'AXLING     SYMPATHY 

HAS   CHEEBED   HIM   ON   DUEING  A   MINISTRY   OF 

nVE-AND-TWENTY  YEAES, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS 

MOST  AFFECTIONATEIiY    DEDICATED 

BY 

THE    AUTHOR. 


416015 


COSITEl^TS. 


THE    CONVEESION    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

PAGE 

I.  Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.  ...  9 

II.  Its  False  Uses  and  True.  .  .   32 
III.  Its  Relation  to  the  Church.    58 


•>     >   >  ,  '    • 


'      i 


THE 


COITYEESIO]^     OF     ST.    PAUL. 


I.  Its  Relation  to  Unbelief. 


''Behold,  lie  prayeth." 

Acts  ix.  11. 


It  is  hardly  possible  to  dwell,  upon  the 
wonderful  contrast  between  the  earlier  and 
later  periods  in  the  life  of  St.  Paul,  their 
directly  antagonistic  character,  his  intense 
hatred  of  the  Church,  and  his  subsequent 
zeal,  untiring  labors  and  final  martyrdom 
for  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  then  read  his 
own  account,  or  that  of  St.  Luke  in  the 
book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  of  the 
cause  of  this  change,  without  feeling  that, 


10      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

regarded  as  a  testimony  to  the  truth  of  all 
that  is  recorded  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  His 
Birth,  Life,  Death,  Resurrection  and  As- 
cension, it  is  not  to  be  escaped,  it  cannot 
be  resisted.  While  the  same  individual 
characteristics  run  through  both  the  earlier 
and  later  periods,  and  everywhere  exhibit 
themselves,  such  as  zeal,  energy,  per- 
severance, courage,  ardor  and  boldness, 
there  yet  probably  never  lived  a  man,  two 
sections  of  wliose  life  offer  a  greater  con- 
trast to  each  other,  than  the  two  which 
make  up  the  life  of  St.  Paul.  It  was  no 
idle  thing  that  his  name  was  changed ; 
that  he  is  known  in  the  inspired  volume 
by  a  diflerent  name  during  the  different 
periods.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them.''  And  how  diverse  were  the  fruits 
of  his  life !  Look  at  Saul,  tlie  inllamed 
zealot,  a  Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees,  the 
relentless  persecutor  of  the  Church.     Then 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         11 

turn  your  eye  upon  Paul,  the  rapt  Apostle, 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  bearing  forth  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  with  burning  zeal  among 
all  nations  and  people. 

Look  at  Saul  under  authority  and  com- 
mission from  the  chief-priests,  seizing  men 
and  women,  and  all  whom  he  "  found  of 
this  way,"  bringing  them  bound  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  dragging  them  to  prison  and 
to  death ;  then  behold  Paul  under  a  com- 
mission from  Jesits  Christ,  the  Lord  of 
Glory,  going  forth  into  the  same  cities, 
and  into  the  midst  of  the  very  scenes  of 
his  persecutions,  exhorting  and  persuading 
every  man,  night  and  day,  with  tears,  to 
turn  to  the  living  God,  to  enter  the  ark  of 
Christ's  Church. 

Look  at  Saul,  to  use  his  own  words, 
compelling  the  disciples  to  blaspheme  : 
then  behold  Paul,  by  his  ceaseless  labors 
and  entreaties,  bringing  men  to  their  knees 


12      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

in  reverencing,  honoring,  and  supplicating 
the  Name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Look  at  Saul,  "exceedingly  mad^^ 
against  the  disciples,  persecuting  them 
"  even  unto  strange  cities,"  and  then  behold 
Paul,  in  the  midst  of  that  scene  which 
occurred  when  he  was  about  to  depart 
from  Ephesus,  when  he  kneeled  down  and 
prayed  with  them  all,  and  the  Ephesian 
Christians  *'  all  wxpt  sore  and  fell  on 
Paul's  neck  and  kissed  him." 

Behold  him,  a  Jew,  persecuting  Chris- 
tians even  unto  death.  Then  hear  him 
a  Christian,  giving  vent  to  his  impas- 
sioned desire  for  the  salvation  of  the  Jews, 
willing  himself  to  be  accursed  from  Christ 

that  they  might  be  made  partakers  of 
His  Great  Salvation ;  while  forty  Jews, 
actuated  by  the  same  spirit  which  had 
actuated  him,  being  a  Jew,  banded 
together,    had    bound    themselves    vmder 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         13 

an  oath, neither  to  eat  nor  sleep  till  they 
had  killed  Paul. 

Look  at  Saul  at  the  martydom  of  St. 
Stephen,  standing  by  and  urging  on  his 
murderers,  holding  their  garments,  con- 
senting unto  his  death,  and  then  behold 
Paul,  arising,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  very 
grave  of  St.  Stephen,  the  mightiest  cham- 
pion of  the  Faith  of  Christ.  See  him 
stoned  at  Lystra  and  drawn  out  of  the  city 
for  dead,  and  follow  him  on,  until  he  too 
becomes  a  martyr  for  the  faith  of  Christ 
and  is  beheaded  at  Rome  under  the 
impious  Nero.* 

Look  at  Saul,  successfully  pursuing,  and 
becoming  enriched  in  his  mind  with  all. 
the  varied  learning  of  the  heathen  schools. 
Then  hear  St.  Paul  discoursing  of  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  as  foolishness  with 
God.     Hear  him  preaching  Christ  crucified, 

*  Eusebius. 


14      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

to  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  and  to  the 
Greeks  foolishness — hear  him  declaring 
how  he  comited  all  things  but  dung  that 
he  might  win  Christ  and  be  found  in  Him. 
See  him  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven, 
where  he  heard  unspeakable  things  which 
it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter. 

Look  at  him  pressing  forward  on  his 
way  to  Damascus.  As  he  goes  thither- 
ward. Saul  is  breathing  out  threatenings 
and  slaughter.  He  arrives  in  Damascus. 
]3ut  he  is  another  man.  Bowed  down, 
liumbled  to  the  dust  in  penitence  and 
shame,  he  supplicates  fervently  for  j^ardon. 
**  Behold,  he  prayeth."  Three  days  pass 
^  by  of  prayer  and  fasting.  He  did  neither 
eat  nor  drink.  Three  days  without  sight, 
and  Saul  is  a  baptized  man.  His  sins  are 
washed  away.  He  is  now  calUng  on  the 
Name  of  the  Lord.  He  who  came  to  kill 
and  to  destroy,  stayed  to  preach  that  men 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         15 

might  have  life,  yea,  that  they  might  have 
it  more  abundantly.  He  who  had  come 
up  to  Damascus,  burning  with  the  fire  of 
intensest  hatred  against  the  religion  of  a 
crucified  deceiver,  "straightway  preached 
Christ  in  the  synagogues,  that  He  is  the 
Son  of  God." 

Whence  is  this  change  ?  Has  it  been 
frivolously  made  ?  Has  he  lightly  given 
himself  to  those  interests  which  he  so  much 
hated  and  despised?  Is  he  but  a  weak 
and  fickle  man?  Is  he  an  anomaly,  of 
whom  we  may  not  judge  by  the  known 
rules  by  which  we  estimate  the  character 
of  men  and  explain  their  conduct  ?  Read 
his  own  account  or  that  given  by  St.  Luke 
in  the  book  of  the  Acts,  of  what  occurred 
while  he  was  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  and 
you  have  the  full  explanation  of  this  great 
change.  The  appearance  to  Saul  as  he 
was  journeying  to  Damascus,  of  which  he 


16      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

ever  spoke  freely,  fully,  and  powerfully, 
gives,  and  that  alone  can  give,  the  explana- 
tion of  the  deep  and  awful  apprehensions 
of  the  glory  and  greatness  and  Divine  Na- 
ture of  Christ  whicli  possessed  his  whole 
soul.  From  this  all  through  his  subse- 
quent life,  his  words,  works,  and  writings 
came  welling  up  in  such .  plentiful  profu- 
sion— all  bearing  the  same  impress,  all 
consistent  with  tliis  one  fact  and  occurrence. 
These  were  not  based  on  opinions,  reason- 
ings, or  inferences  drawn  by  his  powerful 
mind — in  which  there  might  have  been 
some  flaw,  undetected  by  himself,  in  which, 
however  confident  a  convert  may  himself 
be,  others  could  admit  them  or  not  as  they 
might  choose.  They  were  based  upon  a 
fad,  which  was  of  such  a  nature  that  he 
could  by  no  possibility  have  been  deceived 
as  to  its  truth  and  reality.  He  was  stricken 
to  the  earth.     There  was  a  brightness  above 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         17 

the  mid-day  sun.  Jesus  revealed  Himself 
to  him,  that  He  might  make  this  most  un- 
promising instrument  "  a  chosen  vessel 
unto  the  Lord.'^ 

JS'ever  have  evidences  of  deep  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  of  principles  upon  which 
the  whole  life  and  conduct  were  changed, 
been  given  which  were  stronger  than  those 
afforded  by  the  life  and  labors  of  St.  Paul. 
But  when,  added  to  this,  it  is  remembered 
that  they  were  grounded  upon  the  certainty 
which  he  surely  possessed  'of  the  event 
which  transpired,  they  together  tell  be- 
yond the  reach  of  a  cavil,  of  the  mid- day 
appearance  to  him  on  his  way  to  Damascus 
in  a  light  from  heaven  above  the  bright- 
ness of  the  sun,  of  his  risen  and  ascended 
Lord  ;  and  therein  that  * '  the  Lord,  He  is 
God,  the  Lord  He  is  God." 

But  what  was  it  which  made  Saul  of 
Tarsus    meet    for    such    an    interference 

2 


18      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

from  Heaven,  so  wonderful  and  unusual, 
that  he  might  be  '^  a  chosen  vessel  unto 
the  Lord?"  I  answer,  Saul  of  Tarsus 
was  no  trifler  with  what  he  believed  to  be 
the  truth  of  God.  Though  ni  his  zeal  he 
was  fighting,  in  reality,  against  God,  yet 
he  could  say,  as  he  did  before  Agrippa, 
*'  I  verily  thought  with  myself  that  I  ought 
to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the  name  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth."  And  before  the  Jew- 
ish council,  he  declared,  ''I  have  lived  in 
all  good  conscience  before  God  until  this 
day."  *  And  again  he  writes  to  St.  Timothy, 
*'I  thank  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  who  hatli 
enabled  me,  for  that  He  counted  me  faith- 
ful, putting  me  into  the  ministry,  who  was 
before  a  blasphemer  and  a  persecutor  and 
injurious  ;  but  I  obtained  mercy  because  I 
did  it  ignorantly  in  unbelief.-'"  His  con- 
duct \vas  sincere.  Not  in  a  common  and 
false,  but  in  a  true  sense.     His  ignorance 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         19 

was  not  a  wilful  ignorance.  While  liis 
action  was  most  earnest  as  a  persecutor,  it 
did  not  spring  from  caprice,  from  any 
arbitrary  determination  of  the  will  to  ac- 
complish his  ends,  right  or  wrong.  There 
was  not  a  doubt  in  his  mind,  and  never  had 
been,  that  he  was  doing  God's  service. 
His  convictions  of  duty  were  deep  and 
strong.  The  great  desire  which  actuated 
him  in  his  persecution  of  the  Church 
was  to  serve  the  God  of  his  fathers 
— to  exterminate  this  alarming  doctrine 
which  threatened  the  subversion  and  ex- 
tinction of  that  religion  which  he  knew 
in  ages  gone  had  received  the  full  sanction 
of  Heaven.     Hence,  in  his  own  significant 

words,  ''Jesus  Christ  our  Lord 

counted  me  faithful."  Neither  as  Saul  of 
Tarsus  nor  as  Paul  the  Apostle  was  he  any 
trifler.  And  the  entire  truthfulness  of  his 
action,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  and  the 


20      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

truth  of  his  convictions  are  distinctly 
manifested  as  such .  by  his  unfeigned 
amazement  at  the  miraculous  appearance 
to  him,  by  the  way,  of  Jesus,  whom  he 
persecuted.  Then  he  learned  how  Jesus 
was  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  the  religion 
of  God's  chosen  people,  the  Vindicator  of 
its  truth,  the  Fulfiller  of  its  prophecies, 
and  that  the  "law  was  our  schoolmaster  to 
bring  us  to  Christ." 

And  when  his  eye  had  been  touched  by 
the  finger  of  God,  and  he  saw  Christ  in  the 
law,  and   the   law   fulfilled   in   Him,  ''he 

mightily   convinced    the    Jews 

showing  by  the  Scriptures  that  Jesus  was 
Christ."  The  word  of  God  became  in 
his  hand  like  ''  a  hammer  that  breaketh 
the  rock  in  pieces.''  Thus  while^he  was  a 
chosen  vessel  of  the  Lord  to  bear  His 
Name  before  the  Gentiles  and  kings  and 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  by  all  the  ele- 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         21 

ments  of  his  nature  was  adapted  to  this 
work,  the  fact  that  his  conviction  was  so 
clear  and  deep  and  truthful,  that  his  con- 
science, in  all  this,  had  not  been  abused, 
nay,  that  in  this  very  action  against  the 
Church  of  God,  he  was  striving  to  keep 
his  conscience  void  of  offence,  this  we 
must  regard  as  one  of  the  peculiar  and 
fitting  qualifications  of  St.  Paul  which  in- 
duced that  divine  interference  by  which  he 
was  elevated  to  the  office  of  an  Apostle. 
He  was  a  man  who  had  but  to  know  the 
truth  in  order  to  labor  for  it.  When 
he  knew  it  he  made  everything  bow  to 
it.  He  knew  no  sacrifice  too  great  to 
make  in  its  cause.  As  Saul  of  Tarsus,  it 
was  with  the  whole  energy  of  his  being 
that  he  ad\^nced  the  interests  of  the  Jewish 
faith,  putting  down  eveiy  obstacle  which 
stood  in  its  way.  As  Paul  the  Apostle, 
a  convert  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  he  tram- 


22      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

pled  undei*  his  feet  every  earthly  interest 
which  conflicted  with  his  duty.  He  '4aid 
aside  every  weight,  and  pressed  towards 
the  mark  of  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  "  What  things," 
says  he,  '*  were  gain  to  me,  those  I  counted 
loss  for  Christ.  Yea,  doubtless,  and  I 
count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency 
of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord,  for  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss 
of  all  things." 

This  man,  whose  career  was  so  wonder- 
ful— whose  life  has  proved  a  fund  of  ex- 
haustless  interest  and  instruction  to  the 
Church  and  to  the  world,  who  was  so  sig- 
nally marked  as  a  favorite  of  heaven — is  a 
type  of  the  men  we  most  need.  It  is 
earnest  men  that  we  want  in  this  world — 
not  wilful  men,  not  men  who  are  earnest 
in  gratifying  a  caprice,  or  their  own  wills, 
or  in  accomplishing  their  own  selfisli  ends 


Its  Relation  to  Unbeliej^-         23 

— but  we  want  men  who  are  always  in 
earnest  respecting  the  truth  which  they  do 
possess — who  are  sincere,  in  the  sense  in 
which  St.  Paul  was  sincere  through  his 
whole  life  :  simply  desiring  to  apprehend 
truth,  and  then  laboring  for  it  with  the 
whole  soul. 

Such  men,  ever  open  to  the  influences 
of  divine  truth,  may  meet  with  some  won- 
derful changes  of  opinion  and  action.  But 
they  are  the  only  men  who  are  entitled  to 
have  confidence  that  they  will  be  led  by 
the  hand  of  God.  We  want  earnest 
Christians,  and  we  want  earnest  unbe- 
lievers also  ;  men  who  will  always  be  able 
truly  to  say  that  they  "  verily  think  "  that 
they  are  doing  God  service  in  the  lives 
which  they  are  leading. 

I  say  we  want  earnest  unbelievers.  For 
if  there  ever  was  an  earnest  unbeliever, 
one  who  was  earnest  as   such   after   the 


24      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

« 

knowledge  of  Christ  had  been  truly  pre- 
sented to  him,  one  whose  conscience  had 
never  been  warmed  and  illuminated,  one 
whose  action  against  Christ  and  His  holy 
religion,  could  he  truly  said  to  have  pro- 
ceeded, as  St.  Paul  said  that  his  did,  from 
entire  ignorance  and  pure  imbelief,  one 
who  acted  truly  and  with  all  his  soul  from 
existing  and  unadulterated  convictions  of 
duty,  that  man  7iever  died  an  unbeliever. 
Upon  such  a  man  the  Spirit  of  God  will 
descend.  It  is  the  kind  of  men  who  are 
worth  having  to  labor  for  the  cause  of 
truth  and  for  the  glory  •  of  God.  Rare 
men  they  are.  For  where  is  the  unbeliev- 
ing man,  to  whom  Christ  is  preached,  who 
can  rise  up  in  his  place  and  declare  that  in 
his  resistance  he  has  not  again  and  again 
stifled  the  motions  of  conscience,  and 
driven  back  "the  Light  which  lighteneth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world," 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         25 

and  which  is  strugghng  to  enter  his  mind 
and  his  heart.  If  such  an  unbeUeving 
man  cannot  be  found,  then  to  what  splen- 
did results  would  not  earnestness  lead 
men  on !  Driven  not  to  persecute,  as  in 
the  case  of  Saul,  but  to  accept,  the  out- 
ward exertion  of  inward  convictions  would 
break  down  and  demolish  the  external 
barriers  of  that  practical  unbelief  which  is 
so  common,  'so  dangerous,  so  utterly  un- 
worthy to  call  forth  the  special  action  of 
heaven.  It  is  a  kind  of  unbelief  which 
exists  in  opposition  to  light  already  given, 
already  knowingly  resisted,  with  which  our 
Holy  Religion  has  to  contend.  I  say, 
therefore,  I  would  that  every  unbelieving 
man  would  kindle  in  his  heart  the  fire  of 
earnestness,  and  simply  follow,  not  by 
halves,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little,  but 
with  all  his  might,  his  real  convictions 
respecting  truth,  religious    truth.     Strong 


26      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

as  the  phalanx  of  ungodhness  and  worldly 
lust  and  unbelief  appears,  the  Church 
would  have  little  to  fear  from  persecution. 
Practical  unbelievers  would  disappear  like 
dew  before  the  morning  sun.  It  would 
rank,  under  the  blessed  influence  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  among  the  most  powerful 
and  effective  means  of  conversion  to  the 
Church  of  God.  The  trouble  is,  not  that 
men  like  Saul  of  Tarsus  persecute  the 
Church  of  Christ,  but  that  indifference  to 
truth  prevails.  Men  are  not  longing  for  it, 
praying  for  it ;  and  when  they  think  they 
have  found  it,  devoting  themselves  to  its 
service  with  all  their  heart,  mind,  soul  and 
strength.  Indifference  to  truth  and  her 
interests  broods  like  the  spell  of  death 
over  the  minds  of  men.  God  in  His 
providence  carries  home  the  truth  of  His 
Gospel  to  the  heart  and  conscience  ;  but 
there  is  not  the  remotest   idea   of  going 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         27 

on  to  the  discharge  of  duty.  Men  draw 
it  in  with  every  breath  they  breathe.  But 
as  with  the  air,  so  with  the  truth.  They 
learn  ite  value  only  when  God  takes  it 
from  them. 

Amid  all  the  conflict  of  opinion,  whose 
din  and  noise  fill  the  earth,  men  eagerly 
seizing  whatever  makes  for  themselves, 
bolsters  them  up  in  their  chosen  position, 
thrusting  from  them  all  considerations 
which  make  against  them,  present  the 
spectacle  of  .men  fighting  for  a  victory. 
As  if  any  victory  will  stand  at  the  Day  of 
Judgment,  but  that  which  Truth  shall  win. 

Discussions  are  no  evidence  of  earnest 
desire  to  get  at  the  truth.  Few  of 
them  reach  a  whit  deeper  than  to  give 
food  to  vanity,  to  drill,  to  acquire  facility 
in  argument,  or  to  justify  national,  individ- 
ual, family,  sectional,  or  hereditary  preju- 
dices or  sins.     The  old  gladiatorial  contests 


28      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

of  the  Grecian  games  have  disappeared, 
but  there  has  been  a  transmigration  of 
their  soul.  Their  spirit  has  been  infused 
into  and  transfused  throughout  the  gladia- 
torial games  of  intellectual  combat,  which 
so  often  serve  but  to  perplex  the  mind. 
Truth  is  something,  one  would  think,  not 
to  be  hung  over  with  solemn  awe,  but 
to  be  sported  with,  to  be  discoursed  of  and 
discussed  for  the  entertainment  of  listeners, 
for  the  display  of  skill,  and  trick,  and 
sleight-of-hand,  to  elicit  admiration.  Oh, 
how  far  short  of  what  we  ought  to  be  is 
all  this !  Truth  is  a  solemn,  awful  re- 
ality ;  an  unspeakable  gift,  to  be  valued, 
loved,  labored  for,  died  for.  To  attain 
'unto  its  possession  is  the  greatest  of  bless- 
iings.  To  be  ever  laboring  for  it,  from  no 
desire  of  personal,  temporal,  selfish  ends, 
but  in  its  own  cause,  for  its  own  sake, 
for  humanity's  sake,  for  the  glory  of  God, 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         29 

is  the  highest  of  duties.  There  is,  we  may 
be  sure,  more  meaning  in  these  most  signi- 
ficant words  of  our  blessed  Lord,  than  we 
are  apt  to  give  to  them  :  ''  He  that  doeth 
His  will,  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God  " — ^.  e. :  He  who  dis- 
charges his  duties  as  they  rise  up  before 
him,  with  zeal  and  fidelity,  without  avoid- 
ance or  neglect,  shall  be  led  on  by  the 
hand  of  God  into  the  most  intimate  pre- 
sence of  those  truths,  which  can  be  under- 
stood only  by  those  who  sincerely  seek 
the  knowledge  of  the  will  of  the  Lord. 
''  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that 
fear  Him."  And  to  fear  God  truly,  covers 
the  whole  ground.  It  comprehends,  in- 
volves, and  leads  to  all  duty — all  truth. 

This  indifference  to  truth  suggests  above 
all  others  one  painful  reflection.  So  long 
as  it  prevails  there  can  be  little  hope  of 
agreement — of  unity.     God   will   not,   by 


30      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

any  special  act  of  His  Providence,  or 
by  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  bring  men 
to  its  knowledge,  until  tliey  really  de- 
sire it — and  for  its  own  sake.  For  then 
only  will  they  prize  and  preserve  it — labor 
and  live  for  it.  Men  who  are  thinking 
most  of  everything  else  but  the  truth 
of  God,  are  not  the  men  to  whom  He 
will,  in  any  special  manner,  by  any  special 
act,  make  His  truth  known.  Saul  was 
ready,  the  moment  the  true  light  of 
heaven  broke  in  upon  his  soul,  for  any  ser- 
vice. He  was  not  the  man  to  ask,  "  Lord, 
what  wilt  thou-  have  me  to  do  ?"  with  a 
mental  reservation  to  do  that  will  or  not 
according  to  his  inclination  or  fancied  in- 
terests. He  would  take  the  consequences 
of  an  answer  to  his  prayer.  He  would 
aim  to  be  equal  to  the  responsibihties 
which  it  imposed.  In  like  manner,  only 
as  any  one,  in  full  purpose  of  heart,  turns 


Its  Relation  to  Unbelief.         31 

his  steps  heavenward,  to  follow  where  God 
shall  lead,  will  it  be  a  glorious  announce- 
ment when,  as  of  Saul,  it  shall  be  said  of 
him,  ''Behold  he  prayeth  !'' 


THE 

OOir^EESIOIsr    OF    ST.    PAUL. 


II.  Its  False  Uses  and  True. 

'♦  Howbeit,  for  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy,  that  in  me 
j&rst,  Jesus  Christ  might  show  forth  all  long-suflfering,  for  a 
pattern  to  them  which  should  hereafter  believe  on  him  to 
life  everlasting. ' '  1  Timothy  i.  16. 

In  these  words,  St.  Paul  gives  us  one  of 
the  chief  reasons  of  his  conversion — not 
by  any  means  the  only  one,  but  a  leading 
reason.  It  is  after  the  manner  of  the 
Spirit  in  God's  Word  to  present  one  point 
of  a  whole,  as  involving  the  rest,  or  as 
corroborating  such  as  have  gone  before. 
As  when  after  a  miracle  of  our  blessed 
Lord  we  are  told  that  "then  His  disciples 
believed  on  Him  f  meaning  that  thereby 
they  were   built  up  and  strengthened  in 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         33 

their  belief.  When  Ehjah  restored  the 
dead  son  of  the.  widow  of  Zarephath 
to  her  arms,  aUve  again,  although  having 
already  full  knowledge  and  belief  that  he 
was  a  prophet  sent  from  God,  she  now 
expresses  the  confirmation  which  her 
faith  received,  in  these  terms:  ''N'ow, 
by  this  I  know  that  thou  art  a  man 
of  God,  and  that  the  word  of  the  Lord 
in  thy  mouth  is  truth."  So  one  point 
of  the  Christian  system  is  at  one  time 
presented  as  in  itself  sufficient  for  salvation, 
and  then  another  in  like  manner,  and  this 
because,  as  we  must  suppose,  one  always 
involves  the  rest.  Thus  this  reason,  given 
by  St.  Paul  for  his  conversion,  does  not 
exclude  the  others,  elsewhere  stated.  As 
where  Christ  tells  him  by  the  way,  "  I 
have  appeared  unto  thee  for  this  purpose, 
to  make  thee  a  minister  and  a  witness, 
both  of  these  things  which  thou  hast  seen 


34      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

and  of  those  things  in  the  which  I  will 
appear  unto  thee."  Then,  again,  St.  Paul 
himself  elsewhere  states  the  cause  of  this 
merciful  interference  to  have  been  his 
earnest  endeavor  to  do  God  service,  and 
his  real  conviction  that  in  persecuting  the 
Church  he  was  pleasing  God.  Here  then 
were  other  causes  given  ;  one  of  which  is 
stated  at  one  time  and  another  at  another. 

An  interesting  question,  turning  for  the 
most  part  on  this  difference,  involving 
various  considerations  growing  out  of  it, 
arises.  How  far  does  such  a  divine  inter- 
ference in  the  case  of  Saul,  afford  any 
encouragement  to  that  large  class  of  men, 
as  yet  wandering  from  Christ's  fold,  who 
are  untrue  to  the  obligations  and  duties  of 
the  Christian  faith  ? 

How  far  can  the  suddenness,  the  over- 
whelming character  and  other  circum- 
stances of  this  conversion  be  made  appli- 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.        35 

cable  to  cases  of  this  kind?  What 
have  we  a  right  to  expect,  at  the  present 
time,  or  in  the  days  of  the  ordinary  action 
of  the  Church,  as  based  upon  this  conver- 
sion? 

Let  us  be  governed  by  the  facts  as  they 
have  been  given  to  us  by  the  Holy  One 
Himself.  And  may  the  Blessed  Spirit  aid 
us  in  arriving  at  and  elucidating  the  simple 
truth  of  His  own  Word  and  work. 

The  abuse  of  blessings  /  This  is  one  of 
those  oft-spoken  sentences  which  compre- 
hends a  great  variety  of  sins  in  detail.  It 
is  one  of  those  general  terms  in  which  we 
sum  up  man's  guilt,  because  so  many  of 
the  lesser  divisions  and  species  of  sins  are 
ranged  under  it.  This  present  subject 
brings  before  us,  the  false  uses  which  are 
made  of  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

The  first  (and  in  one  relation  the  least 
mischievous)  of  these  is  the  doctrine  of  the 


36      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

irresistibility  of  grace,  attempted  to  be 
drawn  from  this  transaction. 

Now  I  do  not  undertake  to  say,  that, 
when  a  Christian  holds  this  doctrine, 
he  holds  a  doctrine  which  will  affect  him 
or  his  religious  life  unfavorably.  We  can 
easily  understand  how  a  reverent  mind 
may  incline  to  such  a  belief.  Because  it 
is  the  grace  of  God,  he  reasons  that  it  must 
be  irresistible,  it  must  accomplish  its  in- 
tended purpose. 

But  there  seem  to  be  insuperable 
diflficulties  in  the  way,  in  all  those 
passages  of  Holy  Scripture  which  repre- 
sent the  Spirit  of  God  as  striving  with 
men,  which  bid  us  "  Quench  not  the 
Spirit,''  on  the  very  ground  that  we 
have  the  dangerous  power  and  ability 
to  do  so,  and  which  represent  the  unfaith- 
ful  as  receiving  the  grace  of  God  "  in  vain." 
And  surely  we  can  find  no  warrant  for  the 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         37 

doctrine  in  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul.  It 
is  true  it  would  have  been  a  greater 
miracle,  we  may  almost  say,  than  the  divine 
transaction  itself,  if  Saul  had  not  been 
converted.  And  that,  because  of  the 
whole  character  and  circumstances  of  the 
appearance.  In  this  sense  we  cannot  but 
say  that  it  was  irresistible  —  but  by  no 
means  in  a  sense  which  would  deprive 
Saul  of  his  free-agency.  The  power  of 
choice  was  still  his,  however  great  the 
madness  of  resisting  would  have  been. 
Not  one  word  to  the  contrary  is  recorded, 
or  which  supposes  the  opposite.  He 
did  choose  ;•  immediately.  Of  his  own 
free  will,  he  asked,  "Lord,  what  wilt  Thou 
have  me  to  do  ?''  His  own  account  of  the 
transaction  is  only  reconcilable  with  such 
a  consciousness  on  his  part.  He  says  to 
King  Agrippa  :  ' '  Whereupon  I  was  not 
disobedient  to  the  heavenly  vision.'^     Here 


38      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

was  freedom  of  action — here  was  choice 
between  obedience  and  disobedience.  He 
represents  himself  as  free  to  act.  He 
makes  it  a  point  to  be  presented  in  his 
defence,  that  since  the  vision  was  a  hea- 
venly vision,  and  he  would  follow  the 
truth,  he  would  not  be  disobedient,  as 
would  not  any  other  right-minded  man. 
These,  I  say,  are  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
receiving  such  a  doctrine. 

Yet,  however  little  a  belief  in  the 
doctrine  might  do  harm  to  one  already  a 
Christian,  I  can  hardly  conceive  of  any- 
thing within  the  pale  of  possible  belief 
which  an  irreligious  man  -might  hold 
which  could  be  more  injurious  to  him.  He 
proposes  to  wait  for  the  irresistible  opera- 
tion of  the  Spirit  upon  him.  He  shuns  all 
the  established  means  of  grace.  He  irre- 
verently treats  the  ordinary  and  sufficient 
motions   of    the    Holy   Ghost,   constantly 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         39 

iterated  and  reiterated  in  his  heart  and 
conscience,  as  what  proceeds  from  his  own 
nature,  which  he  may  heed  or  not  as  he 
chooses.  The  years  of  his  Hfe  roll  away, 
and  he  goes  down  to  his  grave  an  im- 
regenerated  and  unrenewed  man.  The 
motions  of  the  Holy  Spirit  have  never 
been  so  strong  that  he  could  not  resist 
them,  if  he  chose.  Thus  the  doctrine, 
besides  being  unwarranted  in  Scripture, 
puts  the  souls  of  unbelieving  men  in 
imminent  peril. 

This  brings  me  directly  to  the  main 
point  we  have  in  hand — the  chief  of  the 
false  uses  made  of  this  transaction.  This 
record,  it  is  greatly  to  be  feared,  is  wrested 
to  the  destruction  of  those  who  thereby 
encourage  themselves  in  the  sin  of  pre- 
sumption. Presumption,  not  in  hoping 
for  mercy  when  guilt  is  dark  and  ruin  is 
impending,  not  in  turning  back  unto  God 


40      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

and  suing'  for  pardon  under  any  circum- 
stances of  error,  crime  or  delusion.  For  it 
is  by  this  live  coal  from  the  altar  of  His 
trutli  that  God  would  light  the  fires  of 
hope  even  in  the  breast  of  the  condemned 
criminal,  sorrowing,  penitent  and  broken- 
hearted. ^' For  this  cause  I  obtained 
mercy, ^^  St.  Paul  says,  "that  in  me  first 
Jesus  Christ  might  show  forth  all  long- 
suffering,  for  a  pattern  to  them  which 
should  hereafter  believe  on  Him  to  life 
everlasting.'^  This  is  indeed  one  of  the 
true,  practical  uses  to  be  made  of  tlie 
conversion  of  St.  Paul.  It  gives  ground 
of  hope  and  encouragement  to  sinful, 
wandering  men  to  seek  forgiveness  and 
acceptance  with  God.  The  fact  that 
Jesus  Christ  showed  so  much  long-suf- 
fering and  mercy  in  this  instance,  is  dis- 
tinctly presented  as  an  evidence  of  God's 
willingness  to  pardon  all  grievous  offend- 


Its  False  Uses  and  Thue.         41 

ers.  The  very  extremity  of  the  case  of 
Saul  enters  into  the  essence  of  this  aspect 
of  the  event.  For  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
conceive  of  a  more  flagrant  dishonor  done 
to  God  than  that  a  man,  having  the  j)ower 
to  do  so,  should,  by  torture,  or  otherwise, 
compel  men  to  utter  blasphemies  against 
God  their  Saviour,  loved  and  revered  with 
all  their  heart,  mind,  soul  and  strength, 
and  whose  souls  were  filled  with  a  sense  of 
His  awful  majesty.  Yet  Saul  had  done 
this.  Nay,  while  he  pursued  the  disciples 
under  various  forms  of  persecution,  by 
torture  and  imprisonment,  we  know  that 
he  did  not  stop  short  even  of  consenting 
unto  and  procuring  their  death.  The  con- 
version of  St.  Paul  was  designed,  therefore, 
to  speak  forth  most  eloquently,  as  it  surely 
does,  the  long-suffering  of  God.  It  is  set 
forth  as  a  pattern  for  all  those  who  ever 
after  would  approach  Him  and  believe  on 


42      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

His  name.  And  how  great  an  encourage- 
ment it  ought  to  be  to  those  who  are  ' '  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness  and  the  bond  of  iniquity !" 
It  is  a  living,  alway-pleading  embodiment 
from  the  very  hand  of  the  Great  Sculptor 
Himself,  of  those  words  which  He  spake  by 
the  mouth  of  His  Prophet  Ezekiel :  "  When 
the  wicked  man  turneth  away  from  his 
wickedness  which  he  hath  committed,  and 
doeth  that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  he 
shall  save  his  soul  alive. '^  It  is  "a  pat- 
tern ''  which  poor  human  nature  needed. 
Men  on  their  way  down  the  dark  road 
which  leads  to  the  chambers  of  death, 
sometimes,  when  it  is  not  too  late  to  turn 
and  repent,  become  the  victims  of  despair  ; 
so  great  is  their  guilt,  so  numerous  are 
their  sins.  The  effect  of  an  awakened  and 
smiting  conscience  is  often  to  fill  such  men 
with  gloom  and  the  spirit  of  desperation. 
Such    men,   although    they   have    abused 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         43 

their  most  precious  privileges,  and  even 
sinned  against  light  and  knowledge,  are 
to  look  upon  this  scene  upon  which  we 
are  dwelling.  Let  them  behold  Saul  while 
on  his  way  to  Damascus,  breathing  out 
threatenings  and  slaughter  against  the 
Church,  suddenly  arrested  and  thrown  to 
the  earth,  that  he  might  see,  and  know, 
and  believe,  and  be  forgiven.  It  is  a  scene 
which  presents  in  glorious  colors  to  such 
eyes  the  long-suffering  of  God.  A  scene 
by  which  He  would  snatch  them  from  a 
melancholy  and  fatal  gloom.  A  pattern  it  is 
by  which,  as  by  a  light  from  His  holy  word, 
he  would  light  in  their  souls  the  lamp  of 
hope,  that  the  bliss  of  His  favor,  of  His  for- 
giveness, of  Heaven,  may  yet  be  theirs. 
Holy,  blessed,  and  legitimate  use  is  this  to 
make  of  this  conversion  !  Far  be  it  from 
me  to  say  aught  which  should  dim  its  lus- 
tre, take  from  its  brightness,  or  diminish 


44      The  Coxvehsion  of'  St.  Paul. 

its  force  and  availability  for  this  great  pur- 
pose, for  which,  we  are  told,  it  was  record- 
ed. It  tells  sinful  men  that  "though  their 
sins  be  as  scarlet,"  God,  through  Christ,  is 
ready  to  make  them  as  "  white  as  snow  ;" 
though  they  be  "red  like  crimson,"  He  is 
willing  to  make  them  "  as  wool."  Thus  to 
hope,  and  learn,  and  believe,  and  hence- 
forth go  on  to  repentance,  and  so  up  to  the 
gates  of  salvation,  this  is  not  pre-sumption. 
The  presumption  of  which  I  speak  is 
this :  that  any  man  shall  loait  to  be  made 
the  object  of  a  special,  powerful,  irresistible 
or  overwhelming  interference  from  heaven. 
Never  will  be  revealed,  till  the  Day  of 
Judgment,  the  extent  of  the  evil  which 
has  been  wrought  by  this  spirit  of  pre- 
sumption, which  has,  in  some  way,  been 
infused  into  the  hearts  of  multitudes  of 
men.  Its  pernicious  effects  are  seen  in  the 
inactivity  of  such  men  in  all  those  matters 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         45 

which  have  respect  to  their  spiritual  duties 
and  obhgations,  and  God's  revealed  provi- 
sions for  the  gift  of  His  grace. 

All  pastoral  experience  will  testify  to 
the  fact  that  ,this  evil  is  wide-spread.  It 
is  constantly  pleaded  in  extenuation  of 
neglect,  ^' I  have  not  been  overwhelmed, 
I  have  received  no  instantaneous,  sensible 
shock  ;  nothing  has  occurred  within  my  ex- 
perience which  I  cannot  describe.''  Such 
replies,  when  the  most  important  of  all 
duties  are  pressed  home  to  individuals,  are 
common  ;  given  as  an  excuse  for  a  little 
more  sleep,  for  procrastination,  and  for 
a  continued  trampling  upon  the  require- 
ments of  God.  Such  men  are  in  a 
very  different  frame  of  mind  from  that 
of  Saul  when  he  set  out  to  go  from 
Jerusalem  to  Damascus.  Over  and  above 
the  fact  that  Saul  was  always  in  ear- 
nest to  know  God's  will,  that  he  might  do 


46      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

it — which,  it  is  greatly  to  be  feared,  is  not 
the  spirit  of  these  men — there  is  a  point  of 
difference  of  the  greatest  magnitude  be- 
tween the  case  of  Saul  and  their  own. 
These  have  already  been  made  to  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God. 
They  will  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  hold 
the  fact.  Saul  did  not  believe  this  when 
he  set  out  to  go  to  Damascus.  The  point 
of  resemblance  between  the  two  cases  be- 
gins farther  along  on  the  road,  after  Saul 
had  fallen  to  the  earth,  and  in  answer  to 
his  question,  ''Who  art  Thou,  Lord?"  the 
reply  had  been  given,  **I  am  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  whom  thou  persecutest." 

Just  here  they  occupy  one  and  the  same 
point.  Here  the  resemblance  holds.  Saul 
now  acknowledges  the  fact  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  is  his  God  and  Saviour,  which 
is  all  that  is  yet  accomphshed.     Here  they 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         47 

hold  the  same  truth  ;  but  they  have  been 
convmced  in  different  ways.  Saul  has 
been  convinced  by  the  sudden  and  visible 
appearance  of  Christ  to  him  by  the  way. 
These  by  the  knowledge  which  has  been 
brought  to  their  doors  from  their  child- 
hood. To  them,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  has 
been  ever  ''passing  by''  and  calling 
them,  and  the  fact  of  His  Messiahship 
has  been  owned.  Here,  I  repeat,  they 
are  at  the  same  point  of  knowledge 
and  conviction,  and  Saul,  like  them,  is 
still  without  the  special  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  With  both,  there  is  conviction, 
there  is  knowledge.  But  it  is  only  for  this 
point  that  the  resemblance  holds.  The 
moment  we  pass  this,  the  widest  separation 
takes  place,  through  their  fault.  Saul,  over- 
come by  the  momentous  nature  of  the  fact  of 
Christ's  Messiahship,  asks,  at  once,  "Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"     And, 


48      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

being  thus  directed,  bowed  down  with  a 
sense  of  the  awful  responsibihty  which  the 
knowledge  of  such  a  fact  imposed  upon 
him,  he  goes  as  he  is  led  along  by  the  hand 
towards  the  city  of  Damascus,  to  submit  to 
the  putting  on  of  the  hands  of  Ananias, 
and  the  washing  of  the  waters  of  Baptism. 
But  how  stands  the  case  with  these  men  ? 
Occupying  the  same  point  of  conviction, 
possessing  a  knowledge  they  will  not  deny, 
to  convey  which  nothing  miraculous  has 
been  necessary,  because  the  same  thing  has 
been  accomplished  witliout  this,  these  men 
lift  up  no  voice,  as  the  result  of  this  con-^ 
viction.  They  do  not  cry  out  with  Saul, 
'*  L'ord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?''  they 
are  cold,  undisturbed  men,  who  will  not 
permit  themselves  to  realize  any  responsi- 
bility growing  out  of  the  fact  that  Heaven 
has  already  in  its  own  way  made  them 
believe  all  that  Saul  knew  when  he  hum- 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.        49 

bly  and  earnestly  addressed  this  question 
to  Christ. 

Here  is  the  fatal  neglect,  the  grievous 
wrong,  the  heinous  sin.  And  when,  with- 
out their  asking,  Grod  sends  them  the 
knowledge  of  His  will,  in  a  voice  which 
peals  upon  their  ears  from  the  thousand 
tongues  of  the  Divine  Word,  the  manifold 
providences  of  God,  their  own  consciences, 
and  His  living  ministry,  these  men  even 
then  go  their  way,  not  to  those  means  of 
grace  represented  in  the  person  and  min- 
istry of  Ananias  and  the  Baptism  to  which 
he  called  Saul,  but  rising  up  with  Saul, 
they  go  from  him,  one  to  his  farm  and  an- 
other to  his  merchandise,  and  "  they  all 
with  one  consent  begin  to  make  excuse." 

These  are  the  men  who  will  live  on  in 
their  present  condition,  and  profess  to  be 
waiting  to  be  flattered  by  a  special  visita- 
tion and  interference  on  the  part  of  Heaven. 


50      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

Waiting  to  be  overwhelmed  ?  For  what  ? 
Surely,  not  to  accomplish  that  which 
God  has  already  accomplished  in  them  in 
another  way,  but  which  the  sudden  ap- 
pearance effected  in  Saul.  Waiting  to  be 
overwhelmed  ?  Surely,  not  to  work  con- 
viction in  them  of  a  fact  which  they  already 
believe,  a  fact  denied  by  Saul  before  his 
instantaneous  shock  ?  Waiting  to  be  sud- 
denly overwhelmed  ?  For  sanctification,  per- 
chance ?  Why  ? — because  Saul  was  over- 
whelmed to  be  converted  ?  The  two  things 
were  distinct  in  his  case.  The  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  subsequently  ma(Je  to  him 
in  the  ordinary  way.  Why  should  God's 
way  of  deaUng  with  these  so  far  outdazzle 
that  of  his  treatment  of  St.  Paul  that  these 
shall  be  made  the  object  of  a  sudden  visita- 
tion of  His  power,  for  a  purpose  which  He 
would  accomplish  in  Saul  only  in  the 
ordinary  and  established  way  ? 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.        51 

Alas,  that  expectations  so  prejudicial  to 
the  progress  of  God^s  work  of  salvation 
should  have  become  so  wrought  into  the 
common  mind !  Alas  that  the  always 
open  way  of  repentance  and  faith,  in  which 
the  blessed  Spirit  of  God  is  ever  ready 
to  render  powerful  aid,  should  be  so 
blocked  up  !  The  propagators  of  the  error 
can  •  scarce  ever  know  the  extent  of  the 
evil  which  it  has  wrought  in  keeping 
back,  it  may  often  be,  men  anxious  to  do 
God's  will. 

But  we  are  told  there  are  many  in 
our  Christian  communities,  who  deny  the 
Christian  faith,  and  in  this  respect  do  now 
resemble  Saul  before  his  conversion. 

There  is  another  important  respect,  how- 
ever, in  which  they  do  not  resemble  him. 
Saul  was  not,  like  so  many  in  the  world, 
clinging  to  a  mere  denial  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  founding  his  action  on  no  system 


52      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

of  Divine  Truth.  He  was  with  all  zeal 
clinging  to  the  time-honored  and  hitherto 
divinely  sanctioned  system  of  the  Jewish 
Church.  He  was  not  living  in  the  misera- 
ble, unsatisfactory  condition  of  bare  denial 
and  contradiction.  He  doubted  none  of 
the  evidences  of  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Jewish  faith.  He  would  have  sealed  this 
conviction  with  his  blood  at  any  moment. 
But  have  these  men  any  such  excuse  ?  To 
what  supposed,  divinely  sanctioned  system 
are  they  clinging  with  honest  but  mistaken 
zeal  ?  To  what  form  of  religion  which  they 
believe  to  be  holier  and  more  ancient,  are 
they  deeming  Christian  obedience  preju- 
dicial ?  and  in  defending  which  they  are 
jealous  for  the  honor  of  God  ?  I  answer, 
none.  This  class  of  men  present  nothing 
in  the  place  of  that  which  they  do  not  re- 
ceive. To  borrow  another's  figure,  used 
with  far  less  justice  ;  '*  their  action  may  be 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.        53 

compared  to  a  statue  of  Janus,  with  the 
one  face,  which  we  must  suppose  pointing  to 
Christianity,  entire,  fresh,  as  from  a  mas- 
ter's hand  ;  beaming  with  hfe  and  force  and 
witty  scorn  on  the  hp  :  the  other,  looking 
toward  the  'something  to  be  put  in  its 
place,'  maimed,  featureless,  and  weather- 
beaten,  into  an  almost  visionary  confusion 
and  indistinctness." —  Coleridge. 

Now,  to  bring  this  point  to  a  conclusion, 
is  it  safe,  or  wise,  or  scriptural,  for  men  to 
wait  for  some  sudden  and  irresistible  out- 
pouring of  God's  Spirit  to  effect  their  con- 
version? Will  such  men  ever  submit 
themselves  to  God's  will?  As  a  matter  of 
experience,  do  they?  Are  they  not  seek- 
ing for  signs  and  wonders?  And  is  it 
not  to  them  that  the  word  has  gone  forth, 
''There  shall  no  sign  be  given  unto  you 
but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas  ?"  St. 
Paul  was  an  exception   in   that  mode  of 


54      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

producing  conviction  which  took  place 
with  all  the  rest  of  the  College  of  Apostles. 
Are  these  to  be  favorites  of  Heaven  in 
such  a  transaction  above  Peter,  and  James, 
and  John,  and  Andrew,  and  Thomas? 

The  whole  world  was  lying  in  sin.  The 
Gospel  was  preached  unto  men — its  doc- 
trines, its  basis,  its  hopes — and  men  were 
persuaded  to  become  Christians.  Such  as 
were  converted  to  the  Faith  were  baptized 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  then,  with 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  received  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

What  hope  is  there  that  these  shall 
follow  the  exception  and  not  the  rule  ? 
jS'ay,  millions  were  then,  at  that  very  time, 
going  down  to  their  graves  in  sin,  to 
whom  Christ  never  appeared  as  He  did 
unto  Saul.  Wherein,  I  ask,  is  the  present 
generation  of  sinful  men  different  from 
them,  save  that  those  who  now  go  on  in  a 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.        55 

life  of  practical  unbelief,  sin  against  greater 
light  and  knowledge,  and  therefore  de- 
serve greater  condemnation  at  Grod's 
hand?  God's  words  to  all  such  men  are. 
The  time  is  always  present.  "  Now  is  the 
accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  salva- 
tion.'' "What  could  have  been  done  more 
to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done  in 
it?"  '-'They  have  Moses  and  the  Prophets, 
let  them  hear  them." 

All  pastoral  experience  goes  to  corrobo- 
rate the  views  which  have  now  been  pre- 
sented. The  various  offices  of  God's 
appointment  ever  have  been,  and  to  the  end 
of  this  world,  are  to  be  discharged  with 
more  or  less  success.  The  Church  has 
ever  found  it  so.  So  was  it  even  with  the 
Apostles.  That  which  takes  fast  hold  upon 
one  mind  or  one  community,  is  resisted  by 
another,  by  a  power  of  choice  which  makes 
♦    every    man    fearfully    responsible.      One 


56      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

after  another  men's  minds  become  im- 
pressed by  the  truth,  at  longer  or  shorter 
intervals.  Sometimes  there  are  many, 
sometimes  there  are  few,  and  again,  it  may 
be,  none  at  all.  Still  the  hammer  of  the 
Word  of  God  must  fall  continually.  And 
thus  are  men  gathered  into  the  fold  of 
Christ.  The  person  who,  when  all  is 
quiet  around,  comes  to  God's  minister, 
seeks  instruction  and  guidance,  and  goes 
on  by  prayer  and  penitence  in  faith  to 
seek  pardon  and  acceptance,  and  thus  is 
brought  into  the  ark  of  Christ's  Church,  or 
ratifies  in  Confirmation  the  vows  of  Bap- 
tism, is  a  true  type  of  those  of  whom  the 
sterling  and  reliable  body  of  worshippers 
and  communicants  is  composed.  These 
are  they  from  whom,  we  believe,  God  will 
at  the  last  day  make  up  His  jewels.  Be 
it  understood,  therefore,  that  the  ordinary 
means,   used  as    united  with   repentance, 


Its  False  Uses  and  True.         57 

faith  and  obedience,  are  all  that  any  man 
can  find  warrant  for  expecting,  waiting  for, 
or  depending  upon.  These  are  ever  ready. 
Christ  is  ever  in  them,  and  they  in  Him. 
"  Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready." 


THE 


CONVEESIO]^     OF     ST.    PAUL. 


III.  Its  Relation  to  the  Church. 

"And  he,  trembling  and  astonished,  said,  Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  ?  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Arise 
and  go  into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou 
must  do."  Acts  ix.  6. 

Christ,  who  had  now  ascended  up 
where  He  was  before,  thought  good  to 
stop  the  mad  course  of  the  most  relentless 
persecutor  of  His  Church,  and  to  make 
liim,  in  that  Church,  a  burning  and  a 
shining  light. 

His  position,  as  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  invests  all  that  pertains  to  his 
wonderful  conversion  with  peculiar  in- 
terest. The  Epistles  which  he  wrote  are 
fourteen  in  number.     Through  these   he 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      59 

continues  to  fulfil  his  great  office  to  all 
people  ;  for  in  them,  he,*  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh.  There  probably  is  never  an 
instant  of  time  in  which  these  epistles  are 
not  conveying  the  knowledge  of  divine 
truth  to  multitudes  of  minds. 

The  conversion  of  St.  Paul  was  sudden 
and  miraculous,  and  unlike,  as  far  as  we 
know,  to  God's  dealings  with  any  of  the 
other  apostles. 

In  his  own  account  of  tliis  event,  he 
says,  ''As  I  went  to  Damascus  with 
authority  and  commission  from  the  chief- 
23riests,  at  midday,  I  saw  in  the  way  a 
light  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun, 
shining  round  about  me  and  them  that 
journeyed  with  me."  A  physicial  effect 
was  produced  upon  him,  and  also  upon 
them  that  journeyed  with  him.  All  fell 
to  the  earth,  and  he  was  struck  with  blind- 
ness.    Then  he  heard  a  voice  saying  unto 


60      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

him,  "Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou 
me?"  And  he*  said,  "Who  art  thou, 
Lord  ?''  And  the  Lord  said,  "  I  am  Jesus 
whom  thou  persecutest.  It  is  hard  for 
thee  to  kick  against  the  pricks." 

Every  account  simply  states  these  facts. 
That  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  becomes  known 
to  him  by  this  special  revelation.  To 
convince  him  of  this  fact,  and  in  and  with 
that  conviction  to  fill  his  mind  with  awful 
apprehensions  of  the  divine  greatness  and 
glory  of  Christ,  was  the  starting  point. 
Then,  Said,  trembling  and  astonished,  said, 
"  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?" 

LTp  to  this  point  the  action  has  been 
altogether  miraculous.  Shall  it  continue 
to  be  so  ?  This  is  a  question  which 
touches  a  vital  point  in  our  practical 
Christianity.  He  who  is  thus  addressed  by 
the  prostrate  Saul,  while  on  earth  re- 
sponded to  such  appeals  by  some  personal 


r 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      61 

action.  He  did  not  say,  go  to  Peter,  or 
John,  or  James.  But  being  present  on 
earth,  and  in  the  midst  of  His  personal 
ministry,  He  personally  acted.  He  is 
now  the  risen  and  ascended  Lord.  The 
soul  of  a  stricken  sinner  looks  unto  Him, 
asks  guidance,  submits  himself  to  His 
hands  to  be  dealt  with  as  He  shall  please. 
If  He  has  thought  fit  to  interfere,  out  of 
the  usual  order,  for  one  purpose,  why  not 
for  another  ?  Shall  His  response  indicate 
invisible  action  between  the  Saviour  and 
the  sinner  directly  ?  Shall  He  pour  con- 
tempt upon  the  outward  action  of  a  visible 
body  ?  Or,  having  left  it  to  do  His  work 
upon  earth,  having  commissioned  it,  having 
breathed  upon  it,  having  promised  His 
presence  and  the  ratification  of  its  work, 
having  said,  "  He  that  heareth  you 
heareth  Me,  and  he  that  despiseth  you 
despiseth  Me,''  shall  He,  having   arrested 


62      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

Saul  and  made  him  cry  out  to  Him,  then 
remand  even  this  special  case  to  the  visible 
Church  ?  Will  He  by  a  present  personal 
act  do  all,  in  this  case,  where,  for  most 
pressing  reasons,  He  has.  unlike  His 
action  in  all  other  cases,  now  done  a 
part?  The  question  of  Saul  is:  ''Lord, 
what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  Note 
well  the  Saviour's  answer  :  "  And  the  Lord 
said  unto  him,  Arise,  and  go  into  the  city, 
and  it  shall  be  told  thee  wliat  thou  must 
do."'  Nothing  has  here  been  said  to  Saul 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  by  Him,  from 
whom  alone  all  forgiveness  can  proceed  ; 
and  who  is^  here  at  hand,  addressed  by 
Saul,  to  do  this  work,  if  it  is  to  be  done 
mdependently  of  the  Church  on  earth. 
No  action  of  the  Blessed  Spirit  is  re- 
corded as  transpiring,  here  and'  now. 
Saul  is  simply  paralyzed  by  the  knowledge 
of  the  hitherto  denied  fact  of  the  Messiah- 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      63 

ship  of  Christ,  and  by  the  physical  effect 
upon  him  of  the  miraculous  appearance. 
He  is  amazed  and  confounded,  subdued 
and  crushed.  This  is  what,  according 
to  the  record,  it  was  designed  that  the 
appearance  by  the  way  should  accomplish 
for  this  part  of  the  work.  For  everything 
beyond  this,  beyond  what  was  essential  to 
his  conviction  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ, 
except  his  personal  mission  to  become  a 
witness  for  Christ  to  the  Gentiles,  he  is 
directed  to  go  into  the  city. — ' '  Lord,  what 
wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do?"  ''Arise  and 
go  into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee 
what  thou  must  do." — It  is  not  until  he 
arrives  there,  and  has  been  three  days 
without  sight  and  without  food,  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  given  to  him.  How? 
Through  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
Ananias.  "  And  Ananias,  putting  his  hands 
on   him,    said.    Brother    Saul,    the     Lord 


64      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

(even  Jesus,  that  appeared  unto  thee  in 
the  way  as  thou  earnest),  hath  sent  me,  that 
thou  mightest  receive  thy  sight,  and  be 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  imme- 
diately there  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had 
been  scales  ;  and  he  received  sight  foi'th- 
with,  and  arose,  and  was  baptized.'' 

"Hath  sent  7?ie " — Here  was  a  living, 
visible  person,  appointed  to  represent  the 
invisible  Christ,  i.  e.,  Christ  here  reiterates 
that  which  He  so  often  taught  wliilc  upon 
earth,  that  is  the  identification  of  His 
Name  and  authority  with  the  office  and 
work  of  His  visible  Church.  Tliis  is  a 
point  which  St.  Paul  must  have  fully 
understood,  when  he  said  that  the  ambas- 
sadors for  Christ  spake  and  acted  in  the 
"stead"  of  Christ.  And  everywhere,  both 
m  times  inspired  and  in  those  uninspired, 
which    immediately   followed,  the    visible 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      65 

Church,  through  its  mmistry,  spake  and 
acted  for  Christ. 

It  is  important  to  scrutinize  this  re- 
markable incident  in  the  history  of  our 
holy  religion  more  closely,  because  it  is  so 
confidently  relied  upon  for  inculcating  the 
validity  of  spiritual  action,  independently 
of  an  organized,  existing,  historical  body, 
known  as  the  Church  of  Christ ;  and  also 
because  it  meets  so  specifically  the  common 
and  popular  cry  of  no  intervention  between 
the  soul  of  the  sinner  and  the  Saviour — 
and  that,  under  the  pretext  of  rendering 
peculiar  honor  to  the  Saviour. 

Look  then  at  the  scene  before  us,  as  it 
bears  upon  these  points.  Here  is  a  man, 
with  nothing  between  him  and  his  Saviour. 
He  is  asking  of  that  Saviour,  "  Lord,  what 
wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?''  What  answer 
is  made  ?  What  is  done  in  response  to 
-this,    by   Him   who    hears    and    answers 


66      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul^ 

• 

prayer?  What  does  He,  who  has  all 
power  both  m  Heaven  and  m  earth,  do? 
What  does  He  do  who  is  the  Author  of 
our  Holy  Religion  ?  Does  He  act  ?  Does 
He  now  say,  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee?" 

Does  He  dispense  with  His  own  ordinance  ? 
Does  He  excuse  him  from  obedience — 
from  baptism  and  the  hxying  on  of  hands  ? 
By  no  means.  He  puts  the  intervention 
between  the  sinner  and  Himself  the 
Saviour,  by  express  direction.  He  places 
Saul  in  communication  with  the  dispensa- 
tion which  He  liimself  has  inaugurated,  at 
the  point  at  which  he  belongs,  looking 
forward,  of  course,  to  the  time  when  no 
intervention  will  be  needed.  He  teaches 
this:  that  present  duty  is  conformity  to 
the  present  dispensation,  appointed  for  an 
ever  ripening  work — appointed  to  reach 
results  as  from  cause  to  effect. 

**  Arise,''  He  says,  "  and  go  into  the  city, 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      67 

and  there  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou 
must  do."  Ananias,  by  His  direction, 
became  the  living,  visible  channel  of 
farther  communication  with  the  body  and 
soul  of  Saul.  No  longer  is  the  finger  of 
Christ  literally  to  be  laid  upon  the  sinner, 
as  once  Christ  took  up  little  children  in 
His  arms,  laid  His  hands  upon  them  and 
blessed  them.  Ananias,  as  the  type  and 
forerunner  of  all  Christ's  ministering 
servants  ever  after  upon  earth,  appointed 
by  Christ  for  this  purpose,  visibly  to  act  in 
His  stead,  touches  his  eyes  that  they  may 
receive  sight,  puts  his  hands  on  him  that 
he  may  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
bids  him  "  arise  and  be  baptized,  and  wash 
away  "  his  "  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord.''  Christ  says  nothing  to  him  of 
baptism.  But  while  on  earth  He  had  sent 
forth  His  disciples  to  baptize  every  crea- 
ture.    And  now  it  is  to  one  of  these,  thus 


68      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

commissioned,,  that  He  sends  Saul.  All 
that  Ananias  does  and  says  to  Saul  is  said 
and  done  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  Christ. 

Perish  forever  before  this  act  of  Christ 
Himself  every  aspersion  of  man  against  the 
Holy  OiBces  and  Ministrations  of  the 
visible  Church  of  Christ  here  upon  earth  ! 
In  and  through  Ananias  Christ  touched 
and  healed  him.  Christ,  the  only  Source 
of  grace  :  Ananias,  the  visible  channel  of 
that  grace.  The  waters  of  Baptism,  the 
clay  upon  the  eyes :  Christ  the  power 
which  says,  Be  opened! 

Look  at  it  again  !  scan  it  closely !  When 
Saul  had  been  convinced  of  the  one  great 
fact,  and  by  the  personal  action  of  Christ, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  other  apostles,  his 
place  was  assigned  him  as  one  of  them, 
although  the  Saviour,  but  for  laws  of 
action  establislied  by  Himself,  might  have 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      69 

gone  on,  and  directly  said  and  done  all 
that  He  had  appointed  His  Church  to  do  ; 
although  this  oft-pictured  scene  or  idea  of 
the  individual  standing  face  to  face  with 
the  Saviour,  was  here  a  reality,  and  there 
was  nothing  between  them,  yet  Christ 
does  not  take  back  to  Himself,  even  in  this 
one  instance,  and  for  a  special  purpose, 
that  which  He  had  commissioned  His 
visible  Church  to  do  in  His  Name.  Saul  re- 
covers his  sight  through  the  toucli  of  Ana- 
nias. He  receives  the  Holy  Ghost  through 
the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  Ananias. 
And  in  so  many  explicit  words,  "  baptism '' 
is  set  forth  as  the  instrument  of  remission. 
This  incident  derives  its  great  value, 
partly  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  only 
recorded  instance  in  the  New  Testament 
of  Christ's  meeting  a  sinner,  repenting  of 
his  sins,  after  his  Ascension.  It  is  precious 
to  us,  because  in  the  ever  widening  work 


70      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

of  the  Church,  the  reconciUation  of  sinners 
to  God  through  Christ  must  be  repeated 
at  every  point.  Each  one,  convinced  of 
the  claim  which  Cln-ist  has  upon  him, 
must,  after  the  example  set  by  Christ 
Hunsclf,  be  directed  to  the  living  ministry 
for  baptism  and  for  guidance.  For  the 
Church  of  Christ,  in  its  holy  and  divinely 
ordained  offices,  was  a2)pointed  to  come 
between  the  soul  and  God.  That  this  is 
so,  is  the  special  provision  of  Christ  in  this 
present  dispensation.  The  patriarchal  and 
the  Jewish  dispensations  each  had  their 
peculiar,  and  as  it  has  proved,  passhig 
offices  assigned  to  them.  Before  us  and 
beyond  the  present,  God  has  in  reserve 
the  vastly  higher  blessings  of  immediate 
communion  with  Him,  the  glorious  fruition 
of  His  presence.  These  present  appoint- 
ments may  be  the  childish  things,  to  be 
looked  back  upon  as  such,  wliich  shall   be 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      71 

put  away  from  our  full  manhood.  As, 
after  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in. 
twain  from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  an 
apostle,  inspired  to  do  so,  could  turn  upon 
the  once  needful  appointments  of  the  past 
and  call  them  ''weak  and  beggarly  ele- 
ments ;''  so  may  we,  if  permitted  to  enter 
the  heavenly  state,  there  look  back  upon 
the  appointments  of  the  present  dispensa- 
tion, and  recognize  their  incomparable 
inferiority  to  those  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  shall  be  dwelling. 

Yet,  not  obedient  here  and  now,  to  that 
which  is  appointed  for  us  here  and  now, 
we  shall  never  be  permitted  to  enter  there. 
We  are  Christians  here,  under  training — ■ 
under  training  according  as  God  hath 
appointed  that  we  shall  be  trained.  In 
Heaven  there  will  be  no  sun.  "  The  Lamb 
is  the  Light  thereof."  As  well  might  we 
undertake  to  dispense  with  the  ordinance 


72      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

of  the  sun  by  day  and  the  moon  by  night 
now,  for  that  reason,  as  to  dispense  now 
with  the  temple  of  God  and  all  that  has 
been  divinely  appointed  therein  ;  or  because 
there  is  no  temple  there,  since  "the  Lord 
God  Almiglity  is  the  Temple  of  it,"  refuse 
to  build  temples  wherein  to  worship  God, 
here  upon  earth. 

The  Church  of  Christ  on  earth  was 
ordained,  in  its  hving  ministry  and  holy 
offices,  to  come  between  the  soul  and  God. 
For  this  end  was  it  created.  Christ 
purchased  it  with  His  own  most  precious 
blood.  Intervene !  Not  to  hinder  and 
obstruct,  but  to  receive  and  give  freely  ; 
to  give  that  which  freely  it  has  received. 
Hence  it  is  written,  '*The  Lord  added  to 
,the  Church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved." 
Christ  is  the  Fountain,  the  Church  is  the 
channel.  But  for  this  intervention,  the 
Fountain  would  be  sealed  to  us. 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      73 

When  we  reflect  that  this  objection  to 
any  intervention  between  the  soul  and 
God  is  carried  so  far  as  to  be  made  to 
apply  to  the  mediation  of  Christ  Himself, 
in  His  own  person,  and  to  cause  His 
rejection,  surely  we  ought  to  look  upon 
the  spirit  itself  with  something  more  than 
suspicion.  The  soul  which  longs  after 
God,  and  reahzes  its  own  sinfulness,  knows 
that  there  must  be  a  process  of  prepara- 
tion through  which  it  must  pass  before  it 
can  be  made  meet  for  the  presence  of  God. 
It  must  be  kept  standing  in  the  vestibule 
awhile  before  it  can  enter  the  temple  itself. 
It  must  "  by  baptism  put  on  Christ,"  before 
it  can  be  accepted  by  the  Father.  The 
children  of  Israel,  when  in  the  midst  of  all 
those  visible  manifestations  of  His  presence, 
the  thunderings  and  the  lightnings,  and 
the  noise  of  the  tnnnpet,  and  the  mountain 
smoking,   "said  unto  Moses,  Speak    thou 


74      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

with  us,  and  we  will  hear,  but  let  not  God 
speak  with  us,  lest  we  die."  God,  by 
working  in  and  for  us  through  means,  has 
responded  to  this  craving  of  man's  nature. 
His  immediate  presence,  in  the  case  before 
us,  made  palpable,  although  veiled  in  the 
mountain,  it  was  not  in  man  to  be  able  to 
endure.  It  is  in  express  reference  to  this 
scene  that  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  great 
blessing  of  the  gift  of  the  Church  :  "Ye 
are  not  come  unto  the  mount  that  might 
be  touched,  and  that  burned  with  fire,  nor 
unto  blackness  and  darkness  and  tempest, 
and  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  the  voice 
of  words  ;  which  voice  they  that  heard 
entreated  that  the  word  should  not  be 
spoken  to  them  any  more.  And  so  terri- 
ble was  the  sight  that  Moses  said,  I  ex- 
ceedingly fear  and  quake.  But  ye  are 
come  unto  Mount  Zion,  the  city  of  the 
living    God,    the    Heavenly    Jerusalem.'^ 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      75 

When  Saul  was  converted  in  the  extra- 
ordinary manner  narrated,  the  brightness 
of  the  divine  presence  was  above  that  of 
the  midday  sun.  Saul  was  blinded,  and  all 
who  were  with  him  fell  to  the  earth. 
Read  the  record  of  the  Transfiguration. 
Hear  God  saying,  "There  shall  no  man 
see  me  and  live.''  Remember  how,  when 
the  shechinah,  or  divine  glory,  filled  the 
tabernacle,  Moses  was  not  able  to  enter 
into  it — could  not  look  upon  it  without 
danger  to  his  life.  Remember  how  it  is 
written  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  that 
after  it  was  built  and  consecrated,  "the 
glory  of  tlie  Lord  filled  the  house,  and  the 
priests  could  not  enter  into  the  house, 
because  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the 
house."  As  well  might  we  insist  that 
electricity  shall  have  no  conductor,  as  to 
insist  that  there  shall  be  no  visible  Church. 
As  well  might  we  say,  no  atmosphere  shall 


76      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

come  between  us  and  the  sun  ;  that  its 
rays  must  fall  du^ectly  upon:  us.  Could  we 
have  our  way  in  nature,  in  this  same 
spirit,  instead  of  falling  to  warm  and  to 
nourish,  and  to  cause  the  earth  to  bring 
forth  abundantly,  the  rays  of  the  physical 
sun  would  fall  to  wither  and  to  blight,  to 
kill  and  to  destroy.  All  things  would 
perish  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth, 
througli  the  very  agency  appointed  to  give 
life  and  to  sustain  it.  God's  way  is, 
through  the  hitervention  of  the  atmosphere, 
so  to  refract  and  convey  the  rays  of  the 
sun  that  they  shall  reach  us  for  purposes 
most  beneficent.  And  so,  but  for  the  in- 
tervention of  the  visible  Church,  the  out- 
dazzling  rays  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
would  fall  not  to  heal  and  save,  but  to 
destroy  us. 

God  is  spoken  of  in  two  ways  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  these  depend  upon 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      77 

the  relation  which  we  sustain  to  Him. 
In  one  ''Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire.^^ 
In  the  other  He  is  the  ''Light  of  Life/' 
"The  way  of  salvation/'  our  "Refuge/' 
and  "  our  Saviour."  If  we  cast  aside  the 
provisions  of  grace  within  the  system  of 
grace,  the  appointed  interventions,  "Our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire."  Christ  is  the^ 
"  Sun  of  Righteousness."  He  would  send 
down  the  saving  rays  of  His  light  upon  us. 
But  He  follows  His  own  analogies,  laid  in 
nature,  in  the  creation  of  the  world. 
These  illustrate  His  wisdom  in  the  world 
of  grace.  He  would  send  down  His  own 
effulgence  upon  us,  not  to  wither  and 
destroy,  but  through  His  own  appointed 
medium,  and  that  is  His  visible  Church. 
As  in  the  natural  world,  without  tliis  in- 
tervention, brought  near  to  us,  either  we 
could  not  communicate  with  God  at  all,  as 
receiving  the  bright  beams  of  His  Divine 


78      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

Nature,  or  if  we  did  we  should  perish. 
Christ's  visible  Church,  like  His  human 
Body,  makes  His  presence  as  God  upon 
earth  possible.  It  is  given  as  a  shield  to 
protect  us  while  we  are  brought  into  His 
awful  presence,  and  near  to  His  sacred 
person.  Nay,  under  this  present  dis- 
pensation, so  far  advanced  beyond  all  that 
has  gone  before,  both  the  Father  and  the 
Son  enter  into  us  and  make  their  abode 
with  us.  We  now  commune  with  Him  to 
the  saving  of  the  soul.  We  become 
temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  the  healtli- 
ful  and  happy  sanctification  of  the  whole 
man.  The  Incarnation  is  perpetuated. 
Mercy  is  inscribed  upon  the  very  portals 
of  this  house  of  the  Lord,  which  men  call 
an  intervention.  ''  Her  walls  are  salvation 
and  her  gates  praise.*'  "The  Church  is 
His  Body — the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth 
all  in  all."     It  is  that  kingdom  of  God  to 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      79 

discourse  respecting  which  to  His  disciples 
our  blessed  Lord  remained  forty  days  upon 
earth  after  His  resurrection. 

Men  may  talk  boastfully  of  personal 
independence,  but  it  comes  to  be  but  a 
poor  thing  when  it  is  an  independence  ol 
the  holy  mission  and  offices  which  are 
God's  own  merciful  provisions  for  man's 
redemption,  sanctification  and  final  salva- 
tion. 

Let  no  one  be  betrayed  by  this  cunningly 
devised  artifice  which  is  invested  with  so 
much  power,  because  of  its  insidious  flattery 
of  our  corrupt  nature.  This  is  an  old 
enemy  from  which  the  race  has  already 
fearfully  suffered.  The  angels  were  once 
ambitious  to  be  independent  of  God  ;  and 
for  their  reward  were  cast  down  to  the 
bottomless  pit,  "reserved  under  chains  and 
darkness  unto  the  Judgment  of  the  Great 
Day.''     That  old  serpent,  the  devil,  one  of 


80      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

these  fallen  angels,  instilled  the  same  spirit 
into  the  first  pair,  saying,  "Ye  shall  be  as 
gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.''  The 
struggle  with  men  now  is  to  bring  them  to 
comply  with  the  terms  of  this  present 
dispensation.  The  ''carnal  mind''  is  still 
"  enmity  against  God."  It  seeks  isolation, 
independence.  It  ever  tends  to  indi- 
vidualism. In  Christ  we  are* 'members 
one  of  another."  The  Church  is  His  Fold, 
His  City,  His  Holy  Mountain,  His  Ark, 
His  Kingdom,  His  Body,  in  which  we  are 
bound  together  "by  joints  and  bands"  and 
united  with  the  Head,  from  whom  nourish- 
ment is  ministered  to  every  part,  so  that 
the  whole  Body  "  increaseth  with  the 
increase  of  God."  Christ  said,  "  Saul,  Saul, 
why  persecutest  thou  Me  ?"  because  he 
"  persecuted  the  Church^  Not  to  re- 
cognize the   interests   of  Christ   and    His 


Its  Relation  to  the  Church.      81 

Church  as  inseparable,  to  strike  at  one,  as 
if  to  honor  the  other,  to  rend  asunder  the 
Body  from  the  Head,  to  neglect  the  offices, 
institutions  and  appointments  of  the 
Church,  is  to  abandon  the  whole  Christian 
idea — is  to  accept  the  infidel  idea — to  take 
infidel  ground.  One  who  does  this  should 
not  call  himself  a  Christian  because  he 
happens  to  have  been  born  in  a  Christian 
land. 

Let  us  be  armed  as  God  arms  us  in 
His  Holy  Word  against  those  attacks  upon 
the  visible  existence  and  office  of  the 
Church  of  Clu'ist,  to  which  we  are  exposed 
in  so  much  that  is  written,  printed  and 
declaimed.  Let  these  plain  principles  of 
the  Divine  economy  be  to  us  as  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  ever  at  hand,  to  be  used,  at 
least,  in  the  protection  of  our  own  hearts 
and  minds  against  their  pernicious  effiicts. 


6  »    . 


i 


82      The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul. 

And  let  us  not,  while  professing  the 
Christian  Faith,  prove  recreant  to  its 
essential  principles,  or  attempt  to  be  wise 
above  the  wisdom  of  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  our  Faith. 


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